The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (82 page)

  “Which ship is Esters on?” Shannon asked when they got into outer space.

  “That one.” Durante said pointing it out.

  Shannon then used the thrusters to point the drop-ship towards Esters’ ship and then she turned off the engines. Everyone was looking at her like they couldn’t believe that she did that without getting them killed. Her actions not only proved that she was a pilot in Space Core but one of the best. Vosler then had the look that it all reminded him of something but it was on the tip of his tongue.

  “I think that I’m going to be sick.” Shannon said. She then undid her straps.

  “How come?” Durante asked.

  Shannon didn’t say anything she only got up and went behind her chair. She then set down in the floor, took off her prosthetic legs and curled up into the fetal position and started to cry. Durante got up, held her in his arms and told her that it will be alright.

  “Oh my god now I remember.” Vosler said out loud.

  “Remember what?” Durante asked.

  “There was a pilot in Space Core during the war with the Necro-Mystics who did something very similar to what Shannon just did. The Captain of the ship that the pilot served upon was Alexis M. Garrett. I remembered it because I always wanted to meet the pilot and asked them how did they do that.” Vosler responded.

  “So why did I… err, the pilot, did that?” Shannon asked. She was visibly shaking.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Just tell me, please.”

  “There are some things that are better left forgotten.”

  “Please tell me Robert. I need to know.”

  “I’m sorry… but I can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want to.”

  “Just tell me.”

  “It’s better left forgotten.”

  “Captain. Tell her.” Durante ordered him.

  “Yes sir. Captain Garrett never mentioned it to the crew, said that it was only cargo, but those drop-ships had Necro-Mystic children on board. The crew, however, found out despite the Captain’s effort in concealing it. The proof came in the form of the ground forces who documented it. Since the Necro-Mystics never target human children, the crew knew what would happen if the truth got out. There was a rumor that the crew was either fixing to mutiny or agreeing with the Captain to bury it. There was also a rumor that the pilot of that drop-ship ignored a warning that a Necro-Mystic attack ship was approaching. Whether that is true or not the Necro-Mystics did attack while the crew was deciding upon what to do with the Captain. I know all of this because I was on board the ship that found the survivors of the attack.” Vosler responded.

  “What happened to the crew that you rescued?” Shannon asked.

  “Our Captain was soft hearted, so he decided that since the crew had no valuable intelligence they will be release.”

  “You’re not lying are you? I know what the EOD does to captured enemy personnel.”

  “No I’m not lying ma’am.”

  “Shannon, he’s right about his former captain being soft hearted. Besides, the EOD would have cared more about any intelligence that the crew could have provided and not the crew themselves. Trust me on that.” Durante said.

  As they approached Esters’ ship Shannon put her prosthetic legs back on and piloted the ship into the cargo bay. After they docked Shannon went to her and Durante’s quarters and went to sleep. Durante had the drop-ship refueled and sent a team down to destroy the last remaining gravity lifts. But as luck would have it, those gravity lifts were small enough to take, but they could only take one of them. As they left and headed to Andromeda all of them was thinking about one thing: not about what the EOD will do, but rather what they did to the EOD. For roughly 300 years the EOD has never suffered a blow like it just did. And it was done by those who served it.

(5)

  “Ma’am… it’s us. We’re in a EOD APC and we’re bringing a guest. And ma’am, we’ve lost Venito.” Nakada said over the com system when they got near enough to use it.

  Green Team was still recovering from the lost of Venito when they got back to base. Yes they were grateful that Colonel McIntyre was still alive, but it was not easy recovering from the lost of Venito. It reminded them of the consequences of not getting their act together. It was worse for Caparzo since he saw her fall. Every time he tried to go to sleep he could hear her scream.

  After Blackburn’s forces attack their position, Vaistll made the decision to find another building to act as their base. After reviewing the map of the area for more than an hour, Vaistll picked a hotel that was near a parking garage, a freeway and the beach. She started to think that it was a bad idea to come to Golden Hyperion without any intelligence. But all of that changed when she saw Colonel McIntyre.

  “So when does my drop-ship gets here to take me home?” Colonel McIntyre said. He was sitting at a table debriefing the senior officers of Task Force ZH-3C.

  “Anti-air guns are preventing us from leaving.” Hayes said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

  “I thought that they were supposed to be destroyed before my team gets here.” McIntyre said.

  “Those particular guns that Hayes is referring to has camo-netting.” Taylor mentioned.

  “Do any of you have any ideas where they are?” McIntyre asked.

  “No. We were hoping that you would.” Vaistll responded.

  “I’m afraid that I don’t. So who’s commanding the ship that brought you here?”

  “Captain Mad Dawg Burton.” Taylor responded.

  “Really? So what is the ol’ Dawg up to?” McIntyre asked.

  “He went mad and we had to rebel against him.” Hayes blurted out which caused McIntyre to snicker.

  “Actually we gave him back command of his ship and…” Vaistll was saying.

  “Why?” McIntyre asked.

  “It’s a long story and…”

  “You know what, I’m not interested in hearing long stories. So if you can either keep it short or move along I’ll appreciate it.”

  “Alright then, let’s just move along.” Vaistll said. She was too embarrassed to tell McIntyre the truth. Except for Hayes (who would have told him if he’d asked) everyone felt the same way.

  “So, what Intel can you provide us with?” Taylor asked.

  “Apart from what you already know, plenty. Where do you want me to start?” McIntyre responded.

  “What Intel do have on the EOD forces here?” Ramirez asked.

  “Colonel Blackburn is the commander here. His forces, before they were reduced, numbered at least 8,000. However, I have reason to believe that he has a secret military base somewhere around here.” McIntyre said.

  “Do you know the number of forces at that secret base?” Taylor asked.

  “No. But I believe that it is much larger, perhaps as large as 10,000, than his main forces. Whatever their strength, they were never engaged.”

  “Do you know where they are?” Ramirez asked.

  “No. And I have no idea on where we can find the Intel to locate them.” McIntyre said.

  “God, we’re all going to die!” Hayes blurted out.

  “Boy you need to stop that belly aching of yours.” McIntyre said to Hayes.

  “It’s not that sir, it just I don’t see how we can take on a much larger force.” Hayes said.

  “Boy you got to be shittin’ me.” McIntyre said.

  “No sir. I wouldn’t do that.”

  “Then apparently you didn’t read your Intel on this place. Is that it?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “And you call yourself an officer. Project 21 has strong reason to believe that that army is robotic. So if they give us any problems just EMP ‘em. Or if you don’t want to do that you can always ask Lenkov for assistance. I’m certain that he will comply.” McIntyre said.

  After Colonel Blackburn’s men attack their position, some of Task Force ZH-3C who knew about the Hammer of Doom, thought that Lenkov may have something to do with it. Freaked out at the thought of a untimely death, White Team finally learned that Lenkov and Omori was there. For slightly more than an hour they argued over what to do. Hayes, because of his apathy, stayed silent as he was slowly accepting the fact that he is going to die.

  “I hate to ask you, but do you know what his troop strength are?” Taylor asked.

  “I thought you already knew.” McIntyre responded.

  “Well you see…” Taylor was saying.

  “We have no Intel!” Hayes blurted out loudly.

  “Goddamn it Hayes! What is your major malfunction!?” Ramirez shouted at him.

  “What does he mean you, ‘have no Intel’?” McIntyre asked.

  “There was a highly trained EOD assassin-slash-Special Forces agent at Roscadia who killed both Commodore Parker and Admiral Lowenthal. Whoever it was also destroyed our Intel on this place.” Vaistll said.

  “Why was Admiral Lowenthal there?” McIntyre asked.

  “Long story.” Vaistll responded.

  “So let me get this straight. Despite the fact that you guys had no Intel on this place you decided to come here anyway. Is that right?” McIntyre asked.

  “Yes sir.” Hayes said under his breath.

  “Oh god that’s rich. That’s so fuckin’ rich and spicy.” McIntyre said. “You’re all are going to die here. You have no idea what’s in store for you. Shit.” He added after he chuckled.

  “Well… like I was fixing to say, his forces attacked us at the subway station but we were able to defeat them.” Taylor said.

  “What were their approximate number?” McIntyre asked.

  “Roughly one thousand.” Taylor mentioned.

  “Can you contact Mad Dawg?” McIntyre asked.

  “No. When we last heard from him he said that there was a single Commando Unit on board. He said that his ship is being torn apart.” Vaistll said.

  “Do you know if his ship is destroyed?” McIntyre asked.

  “No, we just can’t contact him.” Taylor responded.

  “Then maybe you should contact Lenkov.” McIntyre said. His statement both shocked and confused everyone. They couldn’t believe that he just said that.

  “And why would we want to do a thing like that sir?” Sanchez asked.

  “One of the Intel that we collected here was that High Command wanted Lenkov and Omori to use one of the Dragon Clones to attack one of your units, and to have another one to infiltrate the ship that brings you here all in an effort to test them. You, as well as Galactic Prime, was just nothing more than guinea pigs.” McIntyre said.

  “So how, and why, does that prove that we should contact Lenkov sir?” Ramirez asked.

  “Lenkov was never the one to use such tactics unless he was ordered to do so.”

  “So what does that prove?” Taylor asked.

  “Colonel Blackburn was making the decisions and not Lenkov.”

  “But Lenkov outranks Blackburn. Blackburn can’t order Lenkov around.” Taylor said.

  “Not unless High Command said otherwise.” Ramirez responded.

  “Now why would they do a thing like that sir?” Sanchez asked.

  “Because they no longer trust him.” Hayes mentioned.

  “Exactly. “ McIntyre responded.

  “Why shouldn’t they trust him?” Vaistll asked.

  “How many ships do you think it took to destroy that Space Core fleet?” McIntyre asked them.

  “Another fleet?” Ramirez responded.

  “Nope.” McIntyre said.

  “A couple of Heavy Battle Cruisers? Maybe three of them.”  Taylor asked.

  “Try again.” McIntyre said.

  “One.” Hayes said ruefully.

  “Exactly.” McIntyre said.

  “What!? No way. How could one ship do that?” Ramirez said.

  “The name of the ship is called, The Hammer of Doom, and it is a Heavy Battle Cruiser.” McIntyre responded.

  “No Heavy Battle Cruiser could do that.” Ramirez said.

  “Not if it can merge with that starbase in orbit.” Hayes said under his breath.

  “Exactly.” McIntyre said.

  “How do you know that sir? You weren’t here when Space Core attack.” Ramirez said.

  “There were survivors who landed.”

  “Yeah, and what happened to them sir?” Ramirez asked.

  “Those damn Demon Xs killed them after my team and I hooked up with them.”

  “Why would High Command allow the ship to be name after Lenkov and Omori?” Vaistll asked.

  “They didn’t.”

  “Are you saying that Lenkov and Omori built that ship without High Command knowing about it?” Taylor asked.

  “That is exactly what I am saying.” McIntyre responded.

  “Wouldn’t the EOD High Command get rid of both of them including that ship, sir?” Sanchez asked.

  “The ship is a killer of fleets, which means we’re all dead.” Hayes blurted out.

  “Damn it Hayes. Shut the fuck up.” Sanchez said.

  “He’s right. About it being a killer of fleets.” McIntyre said.